


Breedless

by VVCephei (Anderazu)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Raven Branwen's A+ emotional intelligence, Siblings, Team STRQ Era (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 09:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30036357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anderazu/pseuds/VVCephei
Summary: Raven and Qrow were never supposed to make it this far.A STRQ one-shot from the viewpoint of its least sympathetic member, because everyone has reasons for the things they do.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen & Raven Branwen, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Breedless

**Author's Note:**

> Title from an Ego Likeness [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HpIu6X1BUk) that is about 1000% Raven.

Raven and Qrow were never supposed to make it this far.

Raven knew that the day they arrived at Beacon; she had known it long before. Qrow probably knew it too, but he was better at hiding it under an appealing mask of self-deprecation and charm. Raven had always needed her sharp edges too close to the surface to have that luxury.

It started years ago, growing up in the tribe. You didn't survive if you were a burden; that was the law of the wilds. People who lived in the cities had different codes, complicated stories of who was allowed to own what and under what circumstances you could strangle someone. They had the kind of complexities you could only build if you had walls between you and the night.

Raven and Qrow were on their own, early on and before they were fully grown. Bad luck. In the tribe, if no one spoke for you, you were left behind. It wasn't cruel; it was taking only what you had the strength to carry.

"We're going to make it," Raven promised her brother at sunset, as the insects sang and the clouds bled fire across the horizon and the tribe grew farther away, leaving them behind.

They were twelve years old. She had a knife, and she didn't want to think about what she'd done to get it. Qrow had a stick that he had been determinedly sharpening for an hour, tears plopping down into the dirt next to it and ignored.

When the sun set, the Grimm came. And Raven was glad.

She could barely remember that night afterward. It was all motion, running through the trees, climbing and grasping each other's hands to lift or swing, ducking and weaving. But eventually they were cornered, fighting, with every scrap that had been trained into them, with every bit of vicious strength they could touch. Raven wasn't prepared for the shocking purity of the joy, the first time she buried the knife deep in a boarbatusk's chest and it disintegrated into darkness. The cinders of it brushed past her face, sooty and cool, and she opened her mouth to breathe it in deep.

Qrow was beside her the whole way: fighting, running, pale faced, clamping his mouth shut on any complaint or weakness. She had never loved him more fiercely and she would never be able to put it into words.

When the sun rose in the morning, they were bloody and bleak-eyed, but alive. "Now we go back," Raven said.

"Fuck them," Qrow said, head hanging down, thin arms draped over his knees. "We should find a better family."

Raven squatted in front of him, cupped her hands around his chin and lifted until they were staring at each other, crimson eyes locked. "There _is_ nothing better," she said. "This is all there is. So we go back and we take our place."

She held him there, staring at him, until he lifted his hands and wearily clasped them with hers. Then they rose together and followed the tribe.

* * *

First days at Beacon were a gauntlet. Raven was expecting to be found out, to be ejected, and she treated everyone and everything as an enemy that couldn't be let behind her or it would do mischief.

Qrow was so much better at people. He joked in the lunch hall, he whispered comments and got in trouble in class, he turned his little trips and breaks and equipment malfunctions into a self-deprecating screen of harmlessness. It made Raven want to scream: he was a knife-edge of pure strength, a survivor of horrors these pampered children couldn't even imagine. And they thought he was a _joke._

She didn't scream, because she recognized that he was buying access, buying friendship. She wasn't strong in that way, so she shut up and let him be their face to the world.

The initial teamwork trials were ridiculous—too easy for her, too hard for half the class. She landed without a fuss and went stalking through the woods, intending to avoid the other students until she found Qrow and they could both take one of the tokens.

She was derailed by a fight, a beowolf that was feasting on the body of an unfortunate student. Raven felt no pity—that wasn't how this worked—but she went after the Grimm anyway, because she didn't want to leave it at her back.

She was flicking her sword away from the fatal swing, arm outstretched and taut with satisfaction, when she heard a voice behind her. "Oh, hey. That means we're partners now, right?"

She turned, incredulous, and saw a girl with red and black streaks in her hair, beaming at her.

"I don't need a partner," said Raven, turning to head deeper into the forest.

"Cool," said the girl, jogging beside her. "Then we'll just go in this direction together. Just gals being pals, not partners."

Raven was annoyed, but it was more trouble than it was worth to shake the newcomer.

She was less annoyed about ten minutes later when they ran into a pair of larger beowolfs and split off one-on-one to handle them. Raven threw herself into the fight like she always did, no holding back. She ended up skidding on her back, sword raised over her torso, gutting the thing and feeling that old cool ghost-touch against her skin as it departed the world.

Only at that point did she look over to see if the other girl was dead, to find her sitting on a rock, head propped in her hands and watching Raven. "Hot," she said. "Also, I'm Summer."

"Raven," she said after a second, picking herself up off the ground and dusting off.

"Yeah, I know. You and the other gloom twin already made an impression. Let's go."

Somehow, Raven found herself following along.

She wasn't very happy when they met Qrow and Tai at the gathering point, laughing like they were old buddies, nudging each other's ribs and making fun of each other's bruises. Qrow shouldn't get attached. They weren't here for that. They were here to learn, and get stronger, and then take it back to the tribe where it was needed.

Raven was even less amused later, when they were minted as team STRQ and Summer was put in charge. "Rad," was Summer's only comment at the time. Tai and Qrow seemed fine with it too. Raven gritted her teeth and said nothing.

She blew up some days later when Tai conned Qrow into wearing the girls' uniform. He spent a whole day of strutting around campus, drinking in whistles and leers, before Raven saw him and asked him what in the sixteen hells he thought he was doing.

Qrow thought it was funny. "Hey," he said, "my legs _are_ pretty great, more people should appreciate them."

"That's what you think we're here for? To be laughed at? To let your own teammate make a _fool_ of you?" Raven's hand was fisted so tight it hurt, but she would not swing, would not lay hands in anger on her brother. That was something other people did, and would never happen again.

"It was a joke. If we can't laugh sometimes… c'mon, Raven. You've got to loosen up a bit." Qrow's eyes were a bit pleading, sad, and Raven couldn't stand that. Especially couldn't stand the way it made a tiny part of her want to hit him even more.

So she left, snarling and pushing past Tai in the hallway, not even noticing the twists and turns until she found herself on one of the rooftop ledges. There, where the wind bit at her face and the sunset clouds spread red and gold and peach over the horizon, she could let her mind blank out and let it all drift for a while.

There was nothing, up here. Just her and the air, and she wished she could push off the roof and float away on it, untethered to anyone or anything.

When she came inside through the nearest window, Summer was waiting there, leaning against the wall. "Hey," the smaller girl said.

"…Hey," said Raven, and they walked back to the room together, saying nothing else.

* * *

The team worked better than Raven had expected. Better than anyone had expected, maybe, except Ozpin. Raven and Qrow were all in, no holding back, hurling themselves into every fight like it was a personal grudge. A team of four of them would have been a disaster. Taiyang was more mellow, sizing things up and coming in from the edges to set up an attack or strike a final blow. And Summer was some kind of crazy riding atop the whole thing.

Raven could never quite get a read on her. One minute she was quoting something deep from their history homework, the next she was taking someone down with a vicious leg sweep in combat class and then standing over them with a joyful shout of "That's right, what's my name?"

It shouldn't have worked. But somehow, they clicked, four unstable elements welded into a perfect mix.

Some days, Raven even caught herself fantasizing about staying together as a team after Beacon, hunting Grimm across the continent and always living in that perfect moment between the end of the fight and the start of the after.

Those thoughts didn't last for long. Outside of STRQ, Raven never quite fit in. She wasn't funny like some of the girls, or nice like some of the others, or even friendly. Part of her wanted more friends, but every time she reached out there seemed to be something wrong with her—she was always too loud, too hot-tempered, too intense. Too much.

Eventually, she stopped trying, and focused on learning everything that she could. She paid attention with fierce protectiveness to see if Qrow had the same troubles, but as usual, he was better at blending. He made casual friends across their class, the same desire to please as always, the same willingness to fit himself in around the edges and hope that other people wouldn't reject the minor accidents that always followed in his wake.

Only around Tai and Summer did he seem to stand up straighter, laugh harder, shout sometimes when he was angry. Raven would put up with a lot, for that.

* * *

There was a dance that Raven didn't mean to go to. She thought she had avoided it entirely until Summer cornered her that morning. "I'm not going," she said preemptively.

"Cool," said Summer. "I'm not going either, but I am going to be up on the balcony wearing a totally banging dress and looking down at people. Feel free to join me."

Then she left, whistling, and Raven was left feeling like she'd lost an argument somehow. She had that feeling a lot, with Summer.

She ended up going, though she told herself she wouldn't. Kept insisting she _wasn't,_ right up through rifling through Tai's clothes to take a dress shirt and slacks, right up through taming her hair back with a silver headband that for a moment made her think of the way Grimm's pale plates flashed in the darkness.

She looked at herself in the mirror, eyes scarlet, face sullen, hair a mane spilling behind her, suit making her look civilized when she knew she wasn't. She bared her teeth at her reflection and left.

Summer was up on the balcony right where she'd said she would be, arms folded on the railing, watching the dance swirling below with rapt attention and a trace of a smile on her face.

(And a joint in her hand, because all their professors' attempts at respectability hadn't stomped out _that_ habit. Which Tai shared, and Raven had given up arguing about as long as they took it out the window instead of stinking up the room.)

"Hey," she said, leaning against the railing next to Summer.

"Hey yourself," the shorter girl said, turning to size her up with a smile. And she was… not kidding about the dress, actually. Flippy skirt, laced-up corset, tendrils of her hair hanging down softer than usual.

Raven realized she was staring, and dragged her eyes up to Summer's face. She wanted to say she looked amazing. What she said instead was, "Why did you get all dressed up for nobody to see?"

"Dumbass," Summer said, with such sweet affection that it hit Raven low in the gut. "I got dressed up for you."

Then Summer stepped forward, silver eyes intent, hands reaching up deliberately to cup Raven's jawline.

Raven was frozen for a second. Then she found her own hands reaching up, fingers tangling and lacing with Summer's. Then they were kissing, and Raven was pushing Summer against the railing, crushing the length of their bodies together, the smaller girl's spine arching back so her hair swung over empty space.

Anyone could have looked up and seen them. Anyone could have stared, and laughed, and Raven didn't _care._ And Summer laughed into her mouth, and pushed her back, and they stumbled into the shadows.

And Raven forgot what music was playing, forgot the Grimm and the tribe and the hard truths that came at sunset, and all she thought about for a while was sunlight and the smell of Summer and a warmth that never ended.

* * *

In the morning, Raven felt guilty. Nobody had caught them, nobody had seen—but she knew, and she felt ashamed. Not for what they had done, but for what she had forgotten in the middle of it. She wasn't here for that.

Summer didn't say a word about it, but sometimes she looked at Raven in a way that made abundantly clear she remembered everything, and wouldn't mind doing it again. Raven always looked away first.

**Author's Note:**

> I have notes for a part two, but who knows if I'll get around to it, so I decided to post this as a standalone. Comments welcome!


End file.
